Ashton And Fule Are Concerned About The Decision Of The President Of

ASHTON AND FULE ARE CONCERNED ABOUT THE DECISION OF THE PRESIDENT OF AZERBAIJAN TO RELEASE RAMIL SAFAROV

ARMENPRESS
3 September, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 3, ARMENPRESS: Catherine Ashton, High Representative
of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and
tefan Fule, European Commissioner on Enlargement and Neighborhood
Policy issued today the following statement on the release of Ramil
Safarov. As Armenpress was informed at the Press center of the
European External Action Service, the statement reads as follows,
“The High Representative and Commissioner Fule are concerned by the
news that the President of

Azerbaijan has pardoned Azerbaijani army officer Ramil Safarov, who
was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of
Armenian Army officer Gurgen Margaryan in Budapest in 2004.

Ramil Safarov was transferred from Hungary to Azerbaijan on 31 August
on the basis of an

Azerbaijani request, in the framework of the Convention of Strasbourg
on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons of 21 March 1983, to serve the
rest of his sentence. EU representatives are in contact with the
relevant authorities and will continue to follow the situation closely.

In the interest of regional stability and on-going efforts towards
reconciliation, the High

Representative and Commissioner Fule reiterate their call on Azerbaijan
and Armenia to exercise restraint, on the ground as well as in public
statements, in order to prevent an escalation of the situation.”